FISHING FORECAST: Fishing action strong despite high tides

Photo courtesy of Capt. Ray Golden West Virginia resident Lucille Golden, fishing with her son Capt. Ray Golden and his wife Amy, holds a tripletail - her first - which she landed this past week. The group landed several tripletails, some in the 15-18-pound range.

Photo courtesy of Rick Morgan It was a good day for redfish action this past weekend for Ricky Morgan, who landed and released this 38-incher. He was fishing in Big Tom Creek out of Kilkenny Marina with his Dad Rick Morgan and friend Christian Thomas.

Photo courtesy of Donnie William) Tim Ryan, left, and Brad Saxon shows one of several red drum and spotted sea trout they landed while fishing in the Wilmington River with Donnie Williams. The Red was landed by Ryan.

Photo courtesy of Capt. Jack McGowan Steve Novack show a red drum he landed while fishing with Capt. Jack McGowan of Coastal River Charters this past week in the Wassaw Sound area. According to Capt. Jack, the bite is good for both reds and spotted sea trout.

The current run of spring tides has slowed much of the boat-angling traffic along the Georgia coast, but reports being received still show a lot of action.

The list of what is being caught through the past weekend and into this week includes spotted sea trout, red drum, tripletails and an excellent cast-net harvest of food-size white shrimp.

Before tides began to climb into the 8- and 9-foot levels, there was widespread action with a variety of species, with several fishing camps and marinas indicating the fall fishing season was off to an excellent start.

Tripletail action

While the run probably will not last much longer, the current season for tripletails may go down as one of the best in several years.

Capt. Ray Golden — who with his wife Amy operates Coffee Bluff Marina (now closed for renovations) — has been targeting both tripletails and reds on a regular basis.

As for the tripletail action, last week he hooked up with seven and had several more looking at his bait. This past weekend, Capt. Ray and Amy introduced his mother, Lucille Golden, who was visiting from West Virginia, to the tripletail action.

“At one spot there were many, and I mean many!” he wrote, adding they also were large fish, weighing in the 15-18-pound range. He estimated one weighed 17-18 pounds.

Most of the tripletail activity he has been reporting has come from the Ossabaw Sound and ocean-area waters.

His reports of red drum activity also have come from the same areas, with both he and Amy landing many in the 30-40-pound range.

Big reds

This past Monday, even with tides pushing into the 9-foot range, Amy landed and released one measuring 38 inches in Ossabaw Sound.

Another report of red drum action took place this past weekend in Bryan County waters when Ricky Morgan landed and released a red measuring 38 inches. The 13-year-old was fishing with his father Rick Morgan and friend Christian Thomas.

In an email, Rick said they also landed another big red measuring 28 inches. The fish were caught and released in Big Tom Creek out of Kilkenny Marina.

Capt. Jack McGowan (Coastal River Charters), who last week forwarded us a couple of photos of big bass being landed, this week followed up by noting that even with big tides, his charter group landed 17 keeper-sized trout and bass during a half-day trip.

Surprising action

Earl Gantt at Adams Bait Shop, located adjacent to the public boat ramp on the Wilmington River at Thunderbolt, said the overall action during the current run of spring tides has been surprisingly good.

He noted that one group of anglers who purchased live shrimp from him scored well on large trout while fishing from the public pier on the ocean front of Tybee Island.

With tides dropping back into the 8- and 7-foot range, most fishing camps, marinas and bait suppliers are optimistic the overall action will improve, with spotted sea trout and reds at the top of the catch list.

With water temperatures now dropping, sheepshead action soon will be picking up. Look for more on when and where the action is developing as the weather cools.

Cast-net shrimp

Harvesting of food-size bait shrimp with taped cast nets continues to the highly successful in many areas. David Wood, who weekly has been keeping us abreast of what he has been catching, this past week again concentrated on big shrimp.

Another report coming from Shellman Fish Camp, located at Shellman Bluff in McIntosh County and adjacent to Sapelo Sound, made note that those casting for food shrimp in the sound waters were again having an exceptionally good year.